Under Rug Swept
by Chloe Peacecraft
Summary: Their rivalry has been a constant source of headaches for Lady Une. They quite simply hate each other's guts. No doubt about it. ...Or do they? Come take a peek at Preventer's two most dysfunctional agents. Rating is for some pretty colourful languag


Author's Note: You're probably wondering where this one came from... Actually, it's something that I've been curious to experiment with for a while. However, I have to thank another FF.net author, Feather, for providing the inspiration to throw caution to the wind and act on it. If you haven't had a chance to read her fic, "Wind on the Water", I recommend you do... You might get a very interesting perspective on things that you thought were pretty much set in stone. I know I did...

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Under Rug Swept

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It was just your typical Monday morning at Preventer HQ. The phones were ringing, the printers were printing, the interns were scurrying about carrying stacks of paper to and fro, and Sally's gag-awful coffee was merrily brewing away... Overall, it seemed like the start of a fairly uneventful day. Or not...

"I'm telling you, you can't lock away a kid in some maximum security jail, and hope that... Pouf! He'll just magically rehabilitate himself into a productive member of society..."  
"Oh, I see, so we should just give the little freak a slap on the hand, and tell him to never do it again... and maybe, if he's good, even slip him a couple of bucks for an ice cream cone, huh?"  
"Jeez, Wufei, will you let me finish already? All I'm saying is I've taught enough messed-up teens to figure out that, as long as you perpetuate the idea that they don't deserve a future, they'll never have an incentive to do anything decent with themselves, and they'll just become a byproduct of the system."

For all answer, Wufei snorted at Noin's argument, the words "Bleeding-heart weakling" surfacing through his clenched teeth. Sensing the tension rising to flammable levels, Lady Une steered the discussion into a more productive avenue,

"So, based on your pedagogic experience, Preventer Fire, how do you suggest we handle the suspect?"  
"I think damage control is the idea, rather than isolation from society. It's way too early, in my opinion, to write this kid off as a lost cause and lock him up for life. We're talking about a twelve-year-old who did something extremely stupid but who, in my opinion, given the right tools, can learn from it. So, for starters, give him a decent family environment. The parents are obviously a dysfunctional mess and, at this point, would do more damage than good. I say, remove him from the abuse, and give him a taste of normalcy with a properly trained foster family. Remove him from his school, his gang, his whole bullying circle. Then and only then you can start eradicating all the Neo-nazi crap that he's been fed over the years."

"I don't know, Noin," Preventer Wind countered, "I agree that juvenile isn't always the answer, but do we really want to take the chance with this one? Sure, he's a twelve-year-old, but let's not forget that he was an accomplice in planting a home-made bomb into a synagogue. Frankly, putting this kid in a foster home and giving him a 10 o'clock curfew hardly seems like an appropriate answer right now. I personally don't want the responsibility of him doing it again while we patiently wait for counseling to start working...."  
"Of course not. But consider this: they're not gonna give him life. You know it, I know it, we all know it. There just isn't a jury in the entire ESUN who will do that. He's still very much a minor, after all, and nobody died in the explosion. For all we know, he could be getting as little as 5 to 10. So let me ask you this: knowing that this kid will eventually be let out before his thirtieth birthday, would you prefer the responsibility of releasing him into society at that point, after he's been entirely hardened and de-humanized by the system? You think you have a problem now that he's an angry twelve-year-old... Well, let me tell you, I don't think I wanna be around when they let him out as a thirty-year-old certifiable sociopath..."

"I think this is nonsense," Wufei finally interjected, "Look, if we're not convicting only for fear that he'll eventually be let out, how in the hell is this kid supposed to learn that his actions have consequences? Are you gonna stand there and tell the victims that, yeah, that's about as much justice as they can expect to get? If there isn't a jury yet that will give him a proper sentence, then we find one that will. It's as simple as that. Enough with this New-Age let's-get-him-counselling crap! I say, give him hard labour on Mars until he knows better!"  
"Oh, yeah, he's really gonna know better by the end of that!" Noin cut him off abruptly, "What planet are we on? If we don't do something now to set this kid back on track and give him the prospect of a half-decent future, then what exactly are we here for? We're Preventers, remember? As in, we PREVENT conflicts from escalating, we PREVENT kids from turning into professional terrorists for lack of any other viable career choice, and most of all we prevent offenders from re-offending! Now, if we can't figure out how to do that, we might as well pack it all in and go flip burgers at Mickey Dee's..."

Lady Une, Zechs, and Sally Po exchanged a rather distraught glance, seeing as how Noin and Wufei were now locked into a staring contest.  
"Here we go again," Sally braced herself, rolling her eyes in semi-exasperation.

"Be my guest," Wufei stated calmly, "Maybe you should give up and let those more competent take over. Oh, and I'll have fries with that..."

A loud thud resounded as Noin slammed her fist on the table and jumped up to her feet.  
"That's it, you little twerp. I was trying to keep it professional, but apparently that's a foreign concept to you. So now it's personal. You wanna go after that kid and push him in the mud and make sure he never gets back up? Go ahead, I'd like to see you try. But be very aware that the moment you overstep the line, I will be on your ass like a gun-damned Grizzly bear protecting her cubs!"  
"Here goes the maternal instinct... You know, you should have stuck to being a schoolteacher, you certainly don't have the backbone or the objectivity for being in law enforcement..."  
"Excuse me? Oh, you've got nerve, talking to me about objectivity, Justice-boy! Well, let me tell you, you've got a lot of growing up to do if you still can't figure out the difference between justice and cold-blooded revenge! And this is a prime example of that... You don't give a flying rat's behind about the victims, you just want to make sure this kid suffers for the rest of his life. Never mind that it won't do anybody a service. Never mind that you're gonna turn him into a professional public enemy with no prospects other than crime... as long as he suffers, justice is served. Right? Do yourself a favour, Chang, and get your head out of your ass. You might just enjoy the view..."  
"Bite me, Lucrezia!"  
"What for? It would barely be a mouthful!"

"Ouch... that's gotta hurt," Zechs winced in sympathetic pain at the young Preventer's male ego, just as Sally bolted after him as he stormed out. For her part, Noin plopped down on her chair, arms crossed and a scowl on her face. Lady Une looked none too impressed.

*******

"You two really have to work things out sooner rather than later," she began lecturing both misbehaving parties.  
"Ann, I would have been more than happy to hear him out, if he had anything relevant and respectful to say. But you know I don't do well with either insults or baloney..."  
"Aw, give it a rest! We all know it's all fine and dandy as long as we agree with you, but as soon as somebody so much as suggests that you may be wrong, you go into hysterics." Wufei protested.  
"Hold on a second, who was the one who started the insults in the first place? I never called you incompetent, so don't make me the unprofessional one!"  
"No, you just told me to get my head out of my ass, that's all..."  
"Because that's exactly where it was, at the time!"  
"Was not! You just can't accept the fact that someone younger than you may actually have a better grip on reality than you do!"  
"Aw, spare me the Noin's-a-big-bad-meany, and grow up!"

"Alright, ENOUGH!!!" Lady Une cut off the squabble, "I don't care who started it first, all I know is it's going to stop RIGHT here and RIGHT now, or you're both suspended! Jeez, guys, I know you're not exactly best buddies, but you've got to start acting with a bit more maturity, at least on the job..."  
"And God knows she should be a hell of a lot more mature than I am..." Wufei muttered under his breath.  
"Why, you little..." Noin growled, lunging for him, only to be retained by Lady Une herself.

"That's it. Go home. Both of you."  
"But Ann..."  
"I warned you once, you both blew it, now you're suspended until further notice," Lady Une repeated firmly as the two disgruntled Preventers surrendered their badges, still glaring daggers at each other.

*******

Noin was definitely not used to being off-work during the day and, truth be told, she didn't like it one bit. She grumbled some more as she hauled the groceries out of the trunk of her car and made her way under the pouring rain into the townhouse she shared with Sally. Her mother had suggested that she take up cooking to pass the time, yet after years of being a Campbell Soup kid, Noin was still skeptical that learning how to make the perfect tandoori chicken would magically chase her boredom and annoyance away.

"Oh, well, at least Sal will have a semi-decent meal to come home to... If I don't screw it up, that is." With that, she proceeded to load her favourite selection of CD's, fill a kettle with hot water for making tea, then set to task on the exotic spices-and-yogurt marinade.  
"I guess if it turns out edible, we can extend the invitation to Zechs. Oh... better go easy on the spice, then... Hmm, I'm not so sure about this... is it supposed to be bright pink?"

*****

Half-way through his second pot of green tea, Wufei was pretty sure that meditating would be of very little help in taking his mind off his temporary inactivity. As far as he was concerned, he was only responding in kind to the verbal attacks of Lucrezia-Lunatic Noin. There was no way that he should have been suspended for that! Besides, he had a case to work on...

He felt his annoyance rise at the thought that his own partner was now stuck working with Noin's partner. Not that Sally had any problems getting along with anyone. He just didn't like the idea of anybody but himself watching her back. The woman could be downright reckless, for one thing... Try as he might, despite his professional respect for Preventer Wind's abilities, something in the back of his mind kept poking at him.  
"Would he do as good a job protecting Sally as he would the an-Noin onna?"

He resolved that there was no point in remaining cooped up inside his small apartment, and that he might as well get some exercise outside. With that, he put on his sweats and running shoes, and headed for the temple atop the city's scenic lookout point.

******

Lucrezia Noin absent-mindedly flipped from one CD to the next, hands still sticky from kneading the flatbreads that were now merrily burning to a crisp in the oven. Despite her best resolve to take the suspension as a much-needed holiday, she could not get her mind off work.  
"Stupid kid..." she grumbled to herself, inwardly feeling even more stupid for allowing him to get so under her skin that she just had to descend to his level. She couldn't help but feel that she had let everyone down. Calm, sensible Noin, flying off the handle like that, getting suspended like a rookie, and leaving her partner to be temporarily reassigned... Not that she didn't have faith in Sally doing a good job as Zechs's new partner. Hey, if she managed to work with a chronic pain in the butt such as Wufei and still keep her sanity in the process, more power to her! 

Only, Zechs could be really hard to decipher at times, and she knew for a fact just how long it took for anyone to earn his trust. If something were to happen, he would put himself on the line to protect Sally, not giving her full credit yet for being a competent agent and knowing how to keep herself safe. Sometimes, even after almost 10 years of knowing him, she still had to remind him that she was a big girl...

Her eardrums protested as the smoke alarm began wailing loudly. She instinctively ran to open the sliding door to let fresh air in, then popped the oven door, and began shooing the smoke outside with a tea towel, all the while cursing under her breath. There lay the naan bread, charred and shriveled up like several lumps of coal on the cookie sheet. Deciding to ditch the whole cooking business, Lucrezia Noin resolved to clean up the mess, then get out in the fresh air for a while. Rain or no rain, she was beginning to feel a major case of cabin fever creeping up on her, and a bike ride in the trails would be just the thing to take her mind off her recent series of fiascoes.

********

His breath was measured, his step rhythmic, as he jogged his way up the hill. The rain on his face and the crisp forest air actually felt rather refreshing, and for the first time since the suspension, he truly felt at peace with the world. He smiled as he discerned the outline of the temple, way up high at the end of the trail, peeking through the foliage. For some reason that he could not quite explain, it was hard to stay angry at anything or anyone when in such majestic presence. Somehow, it all seemed trivial, put into perspective by the rhythm of his own breathing and the sounds of nature.

*******

She rose off the seat, and began steadily propelling herself forward, her face flushed and her heart beat quickening as the wheels spun into the muddy trail. As she made her way up the hill, she slowly began to release all her tension, her efforts now concentrated solely on her bike, the terrain, the rain dousing her face, and the top of the hill, beckoning to her through a thick, interwoven curtain of forest green. 

Somewhere along the way, she passed the only other human presence on the trail, a young jogger who was also making her way up the hill. She tried to steer well clear of her, but the black-haired girl insisted on running in the very middle of the trail, ignoring her presence. Finally, Noin decided that she had enough room to safely pass the jogger, and sprinted to wheel past, miscalculating the fact that, at that very same moment, she would be riding straight into a sizable muddy puddle. She cringed, only too late as the wheels created a wave of puddle muck that drenched the poor jogger from the knees down. Without turning around to meet her glare, Noin hollered a sheepish apology and pedaled like hell...

******

He stopped short, caught by surprise by the splash of gunk all over his pant legs and shoes. Before he could do anything more than yelp, the biker was already speeding off up the trail.  
"Sorry, Ma'am..." the twit hollered, adding insult to injury, and Wufei literally felt his blood come to a boil. Oh, he could have taken the rudeness of being splashed with mud by some incompetent biker. He could even have taken not receiving an apology at all... But being mistaken for a woman?! True, he would never be as tall as Zechs Merquise or Trowa Barton, topping up at 5'10", but come on now! Any idiot could tell him from a woman! ...Or could they?

To his utter dismay, he found himself fighting the urge to turn around and assess whether his behind could indeed be mistaken for a woman's. With a growl, he resumed running, determined to catch up with the biker kid at the top of the hill, and give him a piece of his mind...

*******

She passed the temple, and headed straight for the panoramic lookout. There, she lay her bike against the railing, and sat cross-legged on the bench, looking out into the city below and the storm brewing at the horizon.  
"Better pull the basil pot inside," she muttered to herself, "I wouldn't be surprised if the rain turned to hail by tonight..." She cast a brief thought to her two close friends, Zechs and Sally, probably driving around in the congested rush hour traffic down below, or possibly back at HQ, filing paperwork and drinking bad coffee. She squinted and turned her face upwards, her arms extended outwards. With a giggle, she stuck her tongue out to catch the drops of rain, just as she used to do as a child. Right there and then, she decided that maybe being temporarily suspended wasn't so horrible, after all...

********

He exited onto the steps of the temple and inhaled sharply, the earlier frustration having dissolved in the aromatic spirals of incense and pine resin. The obnoxious biker long forgotten, Wufei began to leisurely stroll his way back down the trail, his mind now clear of all triviality. He barely flinched at all as the same biker came whipping past him on his way down. Checking his legs, and finding no evidence of more splattered mud, Wufei shrugged his shoulders, stuffed his hands in his pocket, and went on his way, wondering how safe it really was to careen down a relatively steep hill at such speed.

As if on cue, barely around the bend in the trail, a yelp was heard, then a loud clang, as though of a bike frame being tossed around.  
"Sure enough..." Wufei sweatdropped, breaking into a jog to go check on the youth. If anything, his past three years as Sally's Preventer partner had served to give him a fairly well-rounded knowledge of first aid and pre-paramedic care...

He found the biker completely conscious and relatively unharmed, if only sitting in the mud cradling a rapidly swelling wrist, blood trickling down from two nasty-looking scrapes on each knee.  
"You alright? Anything broken?" he called out as he made his way down, careful not to slip and fall as well.  
"Nah... 's all good. Damn squirrel cut me off," the reply came as the youth removed the bike helmet and made to get up, taking the hand that Wufei had extended. It was then that they made eye contact.

"Noin?!" Wufei exclaimed incredulously as he recognized the mud-smeared face belonging to his nemesis. A smirk fought its way on his face, despite his best efforts to conceal the surprise and slight amusement.  
"Gundamit..." she cursed under her breath, "of all the people..." She quickly withdrew her hand from his, and pushed herself up without his help, wincing in pain as her weight shifted to her left ankle. Being as it was in no better shape than her wrist, it gave way, causing her to land unceremoniously on her butt, splashing back into the puddle of mud. For his part, Wufei just rolled his eyes and crouched to examine the injury.

"So... you graduated second from Victoria Lake, huh?" he inquired casually as his hands settled around her ankle.  
"Look, I realize I don't exactly look like the brightest crayon in the box right this moment... Yikes! Easy, there!" Noin protested.  
"Does it hurt?"  
"No kidding, Sherlock..." she grumbled, "do you think it's busted?"  
"Nah... just sprained." With that, Wufei proceeded to remove his tee-shirt and use it to stop the bleeding on Noin's scraped knees.  
"I don't know what you were thinking, ripping down the trail at that speed, but I hope you get a good lecture from Zechs," he commented matter-of-factly, his gaze not daring to deviate from her knees. 

"Zechs has no business lecturing anyone, when it comes to pulling stupid stunts," Noin replied, keeping her mind well away from the stinging sensation shooting up from the gashes, "Besides, he's my partner, not my boyfriend. He'll probably just have a good chuckle, just like you did. Now, Sally, on the other hand..."  
"She gets on your case too, huh?"  
"I call her Doctor Mom," Noin remarked, nodding sympathetically.  
"To her face?"  
"Yup." 

A moment of uncomfortable silence followed, both young Preventers slowly coming to the realization that they had actually shared a joke. 

"You didn't sweat in it, did you?" Noin finally broke the silence, frowning and pointing at the tee-shirt that Wufei kept pressed against her scraped knees.  
"Aw, for Pete's sake..." Wufei hissed as he bolted up to his feet and moved a few steps away, "Woman, you're impossible. Who exactly were you expecting, Prince Freakin' Charming, riding in on his white horse and whipping out a first-aid kit from the saddle pocket?" 

"No, but I was keeping my fingers crossed for some hunky firefighter from the 21st Precinct..." Noin quipped, noticing how the youth had now turned away from her to hide an embarrassing blush, not realizing that the redness had already spread well past his shoulders and down his back...  
"Well, you can either be stuck with me, or I can leave and you can see if a firefighter does show up eventually," Wufei grunted, all of a sudden preoccupied with the red stains on his favourite tee-shirt.  
"Look, don't worry about the shirt," Noin offered, "I'll stick it in the wash when we get home, and you'll have it as good as new by tomorrow." 

Still refusing to acknowledge her gesture of peace, Wufei proceeded to go collect the bike, which still lay entangled in a bush just off the trail.  
"Might need a paint job after this," he commented, observing the various scratches, "I bet you Duo would do it for free if you baked him a batch of cookies..." He heard her shuffle as she tried to stand up and decided that, as rewarding as it would be to witness her falling in the mud again, she probably would figure out a way to make him pay for it later. Depositing the bike on the trail, he slid his arm around her waist and helped her to her feet, his shoulder offering support for her to stay off the injured ankle. 

She held his gaze for a moment, each almost defying the other, before she once again averted her eyes, and mumbled an awkward "Thank you".   
"Can you walk?" he inquired, just as he bent his waist to pick up the bike and hoist it on his free shoulder.  
"Yeah, I'm good to go. You ok, carrying all that weight?" she absent-mindedly countered.  
"I'm not a kid, Noin..." came the brusque reply.  
"I know..." she uttered calmly. 

There was no denying it, somewhere along the way Wufei had grown into a man. She had never really given herself the time to take notice, how he now stood towering over her, whereas he would have barely reached her chin only three years earlier. A sideways glance confirmed that the baby fat on his face had also given way to some very interestingly sculpted cheekbones. His thin nose, once almost doll-like, now lent him a dignified, spiritual aura, and as for his build, well... Unable to help her cheeks from flushing, Noin averted her eyes from his bare torso and began to see why half the female interns swooned over him. He certainly made a strong case for taking up martial arts... 

"Then quit treating me like one."  
"Fine... Just don't fall on your ass and drag me down with you. I'm already sore as it is."  
"I told you, I'm fi...aaaaah!!!" Before he could complete the sentence, Wufei had lost his footing, and was now sitting with his behind in the mud. The bike could now claim a few more bends and scratches and, as for Noin, she was the only one left standing, if only precariously hopping along on one foot. She couldn't help a bout of rich laughter as the twenty-year-old sat scowling in the muck. 

"You do realize that this is all your fault," Wufei pointed out as she extended her uninjured hand to help him up.  
"Hey, I told you it was slippery..."  
"No, you jinxed me. That's different. I was doing just fine until then..." the young man specified, giving her hand a tug sufficient to send her off-balance, toppling down as well. 

What he hadn't counted on was the fact that she would land face-down right on top of him, rather than beside him on her butt. He saw her grimace as her knees hit the ground, her hands gripping at his shoulders for dear life to soften the impact.  
"Son of a gun..." she cursed, her cheeks suddenly burning up against his chest.  
"Sorry... How are the knees?"  
"Peachy," she managed.  
"The ankle?"  
"Just lovely." 

With that, she attempted to push up, only succeeding in further abusing her injured wrist, and falling right back with her face flat against Wufei's chest. She then opted for plan B and rolled off on her back, cringing at the squishy mud now all over her tee-shirt and hair.  
"Wufei, you truly do suck," she solemnly stated, thus lying in the middle of the trail. For all answer, the young Chinese burst out unabashedly laughing his head off, commenting on just how lovely and ladylike she looked right that moment.  
"Yeah, thanks a lot... By the way, nice pants, dude!" she countered, her good hand grabbing a handful of gunk and unceremoniously plopping it on Wufei's lap.  
"Gee, thanks," he frowned, then followed it up with a splatter in the middle of her stomach.  
"You're very welcome!" she responded with almost child-like gloating, another handful of mud now being smeared all over the young man's bare chest. 

The squabble gradually escalated into true competitiveness, and the two found themselves mocking and teasing and fending each other off, as each attempted to smear goop on the other's face and clothes. Impaired by her injuries, Noin soon ended up flat on her back, cursing and eewwwing in disgust. Wufei, for his part, knelt straddling her hips, single-handedly claiming both her wrists and smirking triumphantly as the other muddy hand hovered over her face. She shut her eyes tightly, more than slightly annoyed with herself for giving him such an easy victory, and managed to keep the squeamishness at bay, as his index finger slowly traced a straight line along her cheekbone, then another one just below the first. 

"Cool... this stuff's better than war paint," he remarked, admiring his handiwork on her unnaturally stoic face, before setting to work on the other cheek. For some reason that he couldn't quite wrap his head around, there was something strangely exhilarating about the entire situation. He and his most hated colleague, both respected Preventers, now goofing off in a rather undignified way, entirely covered in puddle muck. Hell, he, Chang Wufei, wrestling in the mud with Lucrezia Freakin' Noin, of all people, and feeling all tingly when she squirmed beneath him. True, he had wanted to personally whip her ass in battle ever since she had called him a kid back at Victoria Lake. But this was quite different from what he had pictured back then... This did not feel in the least like revenge, despite his clearly dominant position, and the fact that she was passively letting him paint her face with mud. The whole thing felt rather... feral, instead. Like a primitive mating ritual of sorts... Gundamit... what was he, starting to feel attracted to her or something? 

Her left eye cracking open just enough to meet the gaze of the unexpected prankster atop of her, Noin gave an amused smirk, then commented,  
"War paint, huh? I never would have figured you for that type of guy..." 

A wild blush spread across the young man's face and chest. He gave a cough, and proceeded to ask just what type of guy she figured would use war paint.  
"Oh, I have absolutely no idea," she quipped after a moment of silence, "but I sure enjoyed making you squirm with that remark..."  
"Glad you enjoyed it while it lasted," the Preventer grinned, "I'm still not done painting you up..." With that, his finger traced a line from Noin's forehead all the way down the silhouette of her nose. She patiently waited for him to complete his masterpiece, then, as he drew closer to better examine it, she gave another poke at his inherent shyness. 

"You look like you have plenty of practice doing this... Did you keep a jar inside the Nataku?" she teased, just as Wufei tensed up and avoided her direct eye contact, "Wufei... did you paint yourself up before battle? Come on, I won't tell..."  
"Right, like I'm gonna trust you, of all people..." he chuckled nervously, still not backing away as he touched up a smear on her chin.  
"You did too, didn't you?" she insisted, "By the way, for the record, I happen to be very good at keeping secrets." Dang it... if he didn't watch himself, she might end up taking the upper hand...  
"Maybe, maybe not," Wufei mused in a rather non-committing tone, "What makes you think I would actually tell you anything... Cat-Woman?"  
"Cat-Woman?"  
"You heard me."  
"You better not have painted me up as a cat..." she warned in half-earnest.  
"Wouldn't you like to know..." 

Just as he was thus occupied challenging her gaze, Noin managed to wiggle her hands free from above her head. Immersing her fingers in the mud, she proceeded to sneak up on the young man, placing a hand on each cheek.  
"Guess what... My turn to draw," she announced gleefully, pulling Wufei's face closer, and beginning to run her fingers on it in random patterns.   
"Dang it," he thought as he felt the cool mud on his skin, a shiver making its way up his spine, "Now she definitely has the upper hand..." 

The young man closed his eyes, indulging her for a while as she traced spirals and curvy lines on his cheeks and forehead. Yup... this was quite the predicament they had gotten themselves into, suddenly cringing as one of Sally's favourite songs popped up in his head,  
"Oh, this could be messy... I don't seem to mind... Dude, don't go telling everybody,"   
as Alannis Morissette so eloquently put it in that gag-awful CD that he had been forced to listen to more times than he would have cared to admit. What was it, with women and sappy, angsty songs, anyway? And what was it with guys and older women? All he knew was that, boyfriend or not, if Zechs were to catch them in such a compromising position, he probably wouldn't be a happy camper... And, much to his confusion and dismay, the whole idea of Noin being 3 years his senior was beginning to be rather intoxicating... 

Almost imperceptibly at first, he followed her down, guided only by the feel of her hands, until he was close enough to feel her breath on himself. Before either could have realized that they knew better, the empty space between them was bridged in one moment that would change everything. 

********* 

She was the first to break the contact, indigo eyes once again eluding him under a cascade of dark bangs. He couldn't help noticing the back of her hand swatting by her lips, almost as a cleansing gesture. Instinctively, he did the same as he pulled himself to his feet, then pulled her up as well.  
"God, we're a mess," she commented awkwardly, looking down at her mud-covered self, wanting to divert her mind from what had just happened.   
"Better get you home and clean up those scrapes before they get infected," he agreed curtly, as both wiped off all evidence of their sensual face-painting game. 

They began making their way down the trail in silence, his shoulder barely feeling the pressure of her hand as she hopped along on one foot, determined to rely on his physical support as little as realistically possible. Just before they reached the bottom of the trail that met the main road, she cleared her voice. 

"Wufei..."  
"Yes.."  
"This never happened."  
"Agreed." 

"Just like the song," he couldn't help thinking, a most disturbing feeling of anger mounting steadily as he continued walking in silence, "Just like the goddamned song." 


End file.
